Where The Hell Is Half Life 2 : Episode 3 ?

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What on earth is going on with Half-Life Episode 3? Will the game make an appearance in 2010, even though many thought it would come out in 2009? What are the possible reasons for this delay?

Posted by nutcrackr on Dec 30, 2009 23:25 (17 hours ago)

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Let's have a look at the release date schedule for the Half-Life 2 games


Game Release Date Days since last game
Half-Life 2 November 2004
Half-Life 2: Episode One June 2006 562 days (19 months)
Half-Life 2: Episode Two Ocotober 2007 496 days (16 months)
Half-Life 2: Episode Three ??? 813 days + (26 months+)


With no release date in sight it’s looking likely that the time difference between the Episode Two and Episode Three will be close to double that from Episode One to Episode Two. Can you believe it’s been 5 years and one month since the release of Half-Life 2 and we are still waiting for Episode Three? So why has it taken so long?



Possible Reasons for the Delay


1. Other Valve products


Left 4 Dead 2 took the limelight from Valve for much of this year and it was a very quick turnaround for them, less than a year from Left 4 Dead. Now they would want to maximize the advertising potential of the product so they’d want to avoid talking about Episode Three and focus on pushing out the sequel to the zombie shooter without letting gamers focus on another game.


2. Lots of work to be done


It’s no secret that Episode Three is going to conclude the Half-Life 2 story thread. Just what kind of conclusions this will mean still remains a mystery. But you can probably expect more answers than possibly any Half-Life game before it. With the answers comes a lot of script, lots of play testing and probably a longer game to spread out story elements. They may even be investigating new tech for the somewhat aging Source engine on top of the proposed sign language for hearing impaired gamers.


3. Another “Orange” Box


Orange Box was a big success, it sold very well on consoles and even better on PC. It still remains to this day one of the best valued products with single and multiplayer components and something a bit fresh in portal. Portal 2 is surely on the cards, but what about another game? Counter-Strike 2 has been hinted at many times but Valve makes it sound like they have very little of it done. Maybe another game will be announced something perhaps as surprising as Portal was.


4. Leap Frog development


Episode Two was being developed when Episode One was being developed, that essentially gave them much more time for the second episode. This resulted in them having a turnaround of only 16 months. Episode Two was different as Valve had Team Fortress 2 and Portal to complete at the same time, now this year and last year they had Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2. How big was their team working on Episode Three during these periods?


Possible release date


Predicting a release date for a Valve game would be harder than predicting the winning lottery numbers. That doesn’t mean it’s not fun to try. I personally thought Episode Three would make the 2009 calendar year but as 2010 rolls in we haven’t even seen much news about it.


In any case I suspect we will see the game middle to end of 2010 and as with all of the previous Valve titles I’m sure it will be more than worth the wait. Valve has yet to disappoint with the Half-Life series and this extra development time will surely make the game even better when it arrives.


We may even start seeing some news about the game in the first few months of 2010 so keep your eyes open for more information. I’ll leave you with some old concept art for Episode Three featuring the Borealis and Combine Advisors.


 
I want to Bereeve.

In all seriousness, there have been many threads before this discussing the same problem. Only Valve knows when the game is coming out.
 
I think people need to sit tight and be patient. Obviously the game is going to be released sometime in the future, and we're going to get a release date. The path is clear for Valve to focus mainly on the production of Episode Three. I don't think they're developing any other titles, and so I don't believe there is going to be a Counter-Strike 2. Portal 2 might be possible, but I don't see it becoming a full game, but rather an expansion pack to Portal.
 
I've got it, guys. Don't worry, I'll let you know how the story wraps up in a couple of hours.
 
lol a teaser is coming valve has a booth at a gaming event coming up.. just chill
 
Gabe said he had good reasons for the media silence around Episode 3 - he would reveal them 'soon' (soon in Valve time)
 
I have a good theory why: Valve is re-doing both Episode One and Episode Two along with developing Episode Three. Valve is going to release the Episodes as one continuous game.
 
... No. Why would Valve take all that time just to re-release games they've already distributed as another package? Then on top of it make us play through them again... That's silly.
 
Valve won't be talking about ep3 at the GDC. They are there to interview people from jobs.

We will be at the Game Developers Conference in Austin from September 15th to the 17th. to meet with folks interested in working at Valve. In addition to doing individual interviews with qualified candidates, we will be hosting 30 minute seminars at 10:30 AM, 1 PM and 3:30 PM each day specifically designed to educate current students, recent grads and those new to the games industry on how our studio works, how we hire and what it takes to be a part of the Valve team. If you are planning on being at GDC and think Valve is the place for you, please e-mail Kathy Gehrig directly with your portfolio/reel/resume. Even if you don't see a specific job listing on this page that matches your background, please still contact us — we’re always hiring people who help us make better products.

http://www.valvesoftware.com/jobs.html
 
Oh come on Valve enough with the bullshit.The only thing this silly delay is doing is reducing my interest in Half Life 2 Episode Three.If this goes on through the year , by next January I'll be excited for Ep3 as much as I am now for ... um ... any other game !!!
 
yeah we can all admit that the lack of info or teasing for Ep3 has made us all feel a little lackluster about it but mebe Gabe will see this and give us a little something? Eh? I'm talking to YOU Gabe.
 
I'm Gaben!
I don't give a shit!
I sit above Valve in my big rocket ship!
 
Stop complaining, Valve take ages with their games for a reason, which is so they are perfect when released, for your benefit. The game will be released when its ready. I have a good feeling we will see some of the game this year so please people, stop with the threads about how bad Valve are at meeting deadlines and 'LOLZ IM SO NT PLYIN IT ANYMORZZ HURRRR'. We are all known Valve are bad at deadlines, its always been the same, but when the games are released, the quality shows..
 
Stop complaining, Valve take ages with their games for a reason, which is so they are perfect when released, for your benefit.

OK, but IMO Ep1 and Ep2 were far from perfect, to be honest. Good games but not masterpieces, and way too short. If Ep3 is on the same league, I will be totally disappointed. The same is true for L4D1: good but not flawless. It took Valve one more year to polish it and release L4D2. Valve is a good company, but I don't think it makes perfect games.
 
OK, but IMO Ep1 and Ep2 were far from perfect, to be honest. Good games but not masterpieces, and way too short. If Ep3 is on the same league, I will be totally disappointed. The same is true for L4D1: good but not flawless. It took Valve one more year to polish it and release L4D2. Valve is a good company, but I don't think it makes perfect games.

Just no antlions or Russian mines and it will be cool.
 
I don't see what was so bad about that section of EP2. Why do people always moan about it?

IMO Ep3 is gearing up to be something big. Possibly a full length game.

It was really tiring and boring.Really , really boring.The worst part of EP2 IMO

And I think that they will either leave source or drastically improve it.
 
It was really tiring and boring.Really , really boring.The worst part of EP2 IMO

Agreed. I officially hate antlions, they have been overused.

And I think that they will either leave source or drastically improve it.

As for the Source engine, I usually like its look and feel, but if you look around you'll find that technology has rapidly evolved and a new blockbuster game using Source (as we know it today) might look outdated.
 
***First post alert!***

From what I've seen of some recent engines - they tend to go for slightly less detail but 'more going on' if you get what I mean? Like the COD games, etc. If you look closely at the textures in those games they are quite a lot less detailed than those of the current Source engine.

I'd still be happy to play Ep3 via the Source engine - would too many changes 'affect' the atmosphere / feel built up in the previous episodes / original HL2?

Anyway, I really hope we do hear something soon as it's currently like having read a novel only to find the last few pages missing - or like sitting through a gripping film only for the electric to fail 15 minutes from the end! :(

PS: Excellent site btw. ;)
 
Cheers! Have spent the last couple of weeks perusing all the old threads - hopefully I can contribute a bit to it for others too. :)
 
I think the wait for EP3 is just starting to get a bit ridiculous now, this is beyond long enough, how long will it take for valve to work that out?
 
LOL @ people who think Valve's going to leave the Source engine.

GoldSrc was abandoned.
Anyway, Source is a precious company asset, it will not be dropped so easily, but it surely is in need of some serious enhancements. I know that gameplay > graphics, but when HL2 came out, it had the best visuals and a lot of jaws dropped to the ground. Maybe Ep3 isn't the right game for a total change, but Valve has to solve this matter for future games. I think that a new Source engine is planned, or the competition will keep a step ahead.
 
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